Viraag Desai (b.1986) graduated in 2009 with a BFA from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He currently lives and works in the cities of Kolkata and Mumbai.
In his student and early working years Desai exhibited widely in the USA and India. He has participated in artist residencies in India, Spain (Nielson Gallery) and Bangladesh such as the Piramal residency, Linea de Costa and Uronto. He has worked as Art Director in stage and film, (Rakshas, 2019) and painted murals for the Byculla Wall Project under Piramal Art Foundation and Burhani College Mumbai. Desai has several large-scale commission works under his belt, both in India and abroad, such as the Vespertine restaurant project in Shanghai.
Of late he has expanded his practice from painting to sculpture to technology-based installations, such as ‘Emissions’ at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa. This has allowed him to further meld his experience in digital and set design with his artistic practice.
Desai’s current practice lies in the space between the physical and temporal through procedural design, virtual reality sculpting and 3D printing as recently displayed at The India Story, Kolkata in 2022 and India Art Fair, Delhi in 2023m both with gallery Art Exposure.
He veers towards the technical in his new-media art, drawing inspiration from simulations, organic abstraction, figuration, and emerging online cultures.
Exhibitions / Residencies / Awards
2006 – Recipient of two Merit scholarships from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
2006 – Participated in ARTBASH, Group show at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
2008 – Contemporary Art of Bengal. Group show at Tejas Gallery. Kolkata, India
2009 – Fantastic Visions, Group show at Academy of Fine Arts. Kolkata, India
2009 – Fall Undergraduate Exhibition, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Illinois.
2010 – Subalterity, Group show at The Mezz, Alexandria Hotel. Los Angeles, California
2010 – Wanderlust , Group show at J&K Gallery. Arcadia , California.
2011- Tejas Gallery Workshop at Taj West End, Bangalore. India
2012 – Icons – solo show of paintings at Taj Bengal, Kolkata
2012 – Excerpts – solo show at The Academy of Fine Arts, Kolkata
2013 – Trip Tash – Group show at Aakar Prakar Gallery , Kolkata
2013 – Residency with Neilson Gallery, Grazalema , Spain
2013 – Residency with Linea de Costa, Cadiz , Spain
2013 – Screenshots of Utopia – group show at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata.
2013 – Project in China. 3-piece mural for Vespertine Restaurant , Shanghai.
2014 – Mapping detours – Group show at Chitrakoot Art Gallery, Kolkata
2014 – The Middle of the Garden – Group show at Tejas Gallery Kolkata
2015 – Inaugural show at Vespertine , Shanghai
2015 – CIMA awards Show at CIMA gallery, Kolkata.
2015 – Residency at Lake Nargarh Palace
2015 – ‘Tubes without paint , a fungal lattice and The bird that never flew away’ at Jehangir Gallery, Mumbai
2016 – ‘Momentum’ , ‘Fictive’ and ‘Chai Chronicles’ at Range, Kolkata
2016 – Uday at Akar Prakar Art Advisory, New Delhi
2017 – Affordable Art Fair, Hampstead, London
2017 – ‘The Painted Face’ – Art Exposure, Kolkata
2018 – Piramal Residency, Thane, Mumbai
2018 – Four Point Perspective – Piramal Museum Mumbai
2018 – ‘Emmissions ‘ at Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa
2019 – Stage/ Prop Design for ‘Rakshas’,Theatrical Production ,Delhi and Bangalore
2019 – My own muse, Art Exposure, Kolkata.
2019 – ‘Collage making- an offbeat approach’ Lecture and Workshop at Piramal Museum,Mumbai
2019 – Bycullla Wall project. 75×16 ft mural at Piramal Aranya, in collaboration with Piramal Museum.
2019 – Byculla Wall Project –Conducted illustration workshop for photographers
2019 – ‘Chitrashaala’ Residency at Lake Nargarh Palace
2019 – Uronto Residency – Bangladesh
2019 – Uronto at Dhaka Art Summit.
2019 – Mural at Burhani college, Mumbai
2020 – ‘Untitled 4’ at Priyasri Art Gallery
2020 – ‘A Mechanical Eye’ Solo show at Art Exposure Kolkata
2022 – ‘Memory Leaves’ – Art Exposure Kolkata
2022 – ‘India Story’ , Kolkata
2023 – India Art Fair with Art Exposure – Delhi